Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A village of 1,837 in Powys, Wales.
Rhayader has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Its strongest subject is walkability (A): 27% of commuters walk, cycle or take public transport. Its weakest is jobs & income (D−): mean household income £38,772; 3.1% of 16 to 64s claim unemployment benefits. The median home sold for £190,000 in the last three years, 4.5 times what households in the Powys council area earn in a year.
Dyfed Powys Police published 32 of the 36 months; rates are per year over the months published. This town's Health Grade uses ONS's small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy for 2019 to 2023, and two Census 2021 measures, bad health and disability, adjusted for age. English towns' grades also use OHID's small-area early deaths, hospital admissions and child obesity, which OHID publishes for England only.
The 3 things Rhayader does most differently from other towns.
Each subject compared with the 2,160 UK towns with an overall grade (schools within Wales), ordered by how far Rhayader is from typical. American towns are graded separately.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Cadw lists 18 buildings inside Rhayader’s built-up area, and 1 scheduled monument.
33% of its homes were built before 1919, against 15% in the typical UK town.
The archive holds 2 old photos and postcards going back to 1813.
Data highlights are ordered by what stands out in Rhayader.
The Census was taken on 21 March 2021, in lockdown, so 20% of workers were mainly at home; shares here are of those who travelled.
72% of commuters drove, below both Powys’ towns (77%) and Wales’s towns (81%).
ONS Census 2021, method of travel and distance to work · ONS small-area income · DWP claimant count · OGL
Rhayader sits above both Powys’ towns (36.1) and Wales’s towns (33.8) on this measure. Burglary and damage come to 14.3 per 1,000 residents a year. Police recorded 159 crimes inside Rhayader’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, plus 28 reports of anti-social behaviour.
Not gradedAnti-social behaviour, shoplifting and other theft are shown but left out of the Safety Grade, which counts violence and crimes against homes and vehicles per resident.
data.police.uk street-level crime · points inside the ONS built-up-area boundary · OGL
The heritage lists give each building’s grade but not its age, so we don’t say which is oldest.
That puts Rhayader above both Powys’ towns (12%) and Wales’s towns (0%). For its size, Rhayader has 98 listed buildings per 10,000 residents. Rhayader has 18 listed buildings on Cadw’s list: 0 Grade I, 0 Grade II*.
Cadw list, October 2026 · Valuation Office Agency, homes by build period · OGL
On this, Rhayader is above both Powys’ towns (19%) and Wales’s towns (17%). Owners make up 57% of households.
| By type | Median | Sales |
|---|---|---|
| Detached | £218,750 | 32 |
| Semi-detached | £200,000 | 12 |
| Terraced | £152,500 | 21 |
HM Land Registry Price Paid · ONS private rents · MHCLG / Welsh Government council tax · ONS Census 2021 tenure · OGL
One GP practice serves the town. 73% of Rhayader’s residents described their health as good or very good at the census, below both Powys’ towns (78%) and Wales’s towns (78%). Women here live to 80.9 on average and men to 78.9 (2019–23).
| Census 2021 | Rhayader | Powys | Wales |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good or very good health | 73% | 78% | 78% |
| Bad or very bad health | 6.9% | 6.5% | 7.1% |
| Disabled (Equality Act) | 23% | 22% | 22% |
ONS Census 2021, general health and disability · ONS, life expectancy 2019–23 · OGL
In the comparison, Rhayader comes above both Powys’ towns (27%) and Wales’s towns (21%). People aged 15 to 24 make up 8.3% of the town. The median resident of Rhayader is 50.9 years old.
53% women, 47% men
About 89 men for every 100 women. Across Wales, 51% of residents are women. Women live longer than men, so towns with many older residents have more women.
| Rhayader | Powys | Wales | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 15 | 15% | 15% | 17% |
| 15–24 | 8.3% | 9.5% | 12% |
| 25–44 | 21% | 21% | 25% |
| 45–64 | 25% | 27% | 26% |
| 65+ | 31% | 27% | 21% |
| No qualifications | 22% | 20% | 20% |
| Apprenticeship | 6.6% | 6.2% | 5.6% |
| A levels or similar | 17% | 17% | 17% |
| Degree level | 27% | 30% | 31% |
ONS Census 2021 · Powys and Wales: all residents of their built-up areas · OGL
Museums, castles, gardens and days out in and near Rhayader. Best known first.
MuseumCARAD Rhayader Museum and Galleryin town
CastleRhayader Castle100 m outside town, to the southwestAttractionAttractionGigrin Farm Red Kite Feeding Centre200 m outside town, to the southeastPhotos: each place’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the licence below (our copy, resized).
The nearest built-up areas, from ONS’s 2022 boundaries. See them on the map →
| Town | People | Miles | Overall | Cost | Safety | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rhayader | 1,837 | — | — | A− | D | C− |
| Llandrindod Wells | 5,429 | 7 | C− | B+ | D− | C− |
| Llanidloes | 2,197 | 10 | — | A | C− | B− |
| Builth Wells | 2,620 | 12 | C | B− | C− | C+ |
Llanidloes has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. People: Census 2021. Miles: centre to centre.
Police recorded 159 crimes inside Rhayader’s built-up area in the 12 months to August 2026, 63% of them violence and sexual offences, a police category that includes harassment and stalking.
18 on Cadw’s list. That is 4 times the typical UK town for its size. It also has 1 scheduled monument.
Homes cost less than in most UK towns: the median sale over three years was £190,000, against £277,000 in the typical UK town. By type: terraced houses £152,500, semi-detached houses £200,000 and detached houses £218,750.
Village in Powys, Wales
Rhayader is a built-up area of 1,837 people, in the Powys council area. TownRatings uses ONS’s 2022 built-up areas as towns: the physical town, as people mean the word, rather than a council district, so its figures cover the town itself.
Built from ONS geography and Census 2021
Sources: ONS Census 2021, output areas summed to the ONS 2022 built-up area · HM Land Registry Price Paid (standard sales, September 2023 to August 2026) · ONS Price Index of Private Rents (August 2026, by council) · MHCLG and Welsh Government council tax, Band D 2026–27 (with parish precepts in England) · data.police.uk street-level crime, 36 months to August 2026, points inside the built-up-area boundary · ONS small-area life expectancy and healthy life expectancy, 2019 to 2023 (England and Wales), OHID Fingertips small-area indicators (England) and Census 2021 health, adjusted for age · ONS small-area income estimates (financial year ending 2023) · DWP claimant count via Nomis (January to August 2026) · Cadw listed buildings, scheduled monuments and registered historic parks and gardens via DataMapWales, October 2026, inside the ONS 2022 built-up-area boundary · Valuation Office Agency, Council Tax: stock of properties by build period (31 March 2025) · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Contains HM Land Registry data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026 (ONS boundaries). Northern Ireland: Source: NISRA; contains Land & Property Services data and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland information, © Crown copyright, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Scotland: contains National Records of Scotland data, Registers of Scotland data and SEPA data, © Crown copyright / © SEPA 2025, licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.